Betrayal
by Advent of Shadows' Archive
Summary: Betrayed by his village after the failed mission to retrieve Sasuke, Naruto sets out to find a new home, and a new life, for himself. Watch as he shakes the very shinobi world to its core. Abandoned/up for adoption


This is an abandoned fanfic, written by yours truly, Advent of Shadows. It is up for adoption to anyone who wants it, provided that they promise not to have yaoi or harems occur in the fic. If you wish to do one of those, write your own version of it from scratch. I won't complain that way.

Summary: Betrayed by his village after the failed mission to retrieve Sasuke, Naruto sets out to find a new home, and a new life, for himself. Watch as he shakes the very shinobi world to its core.

Pairing: Naruto/Fu.

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><p><strong><span>1. The Message<span>**

Nearly a week before the thirteenth anniversary of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's attack on the Hidden Leaf Village, one would find Tsunade sitting in her office with a worried expression upon her face.

Tsunade was the single greatest medical ninja in history, one of the only three students ever taken on by the man known as the Professor and the God of Shinobi, the only female among the Hidden Leaf's Sannin, and the current Hokage. She had earned several nicknames and titles over the years as well, including Princess Tsunade, the Slug Princess, the Slug Sannin, the Legendary Sucker, and most recently, the Fifth Hokage.

All in all, no one could claim that she lacked intelligence, skill, or incredibly lousy luck. In spite of the first two, and possibly as a result of last one, she was at wits end in regards to the most recent turn of events.

Sitting in front of her on the desk before her was a message from her "advisors." She mentally scoffed at the notion of her late sensei's old teammates. They did not so much advise her as tell her what she needed to do. They thought that because they were nearly two decades older than her and had served as advisors in the last two of the Great Shinobi Wars that they knew better than she.

She wanted to dismiss the message before her… but she could not do so. The message was mainly in response of the recently failed mission to bring Sasuke Uchiha back to the village before he could leave the Land of Fire to join Orochimaru.

'At least they aren't trying to blame the team for the failure of the mission.' Tsunade thought as she shook her head. The prospect of the team failing had been a rather high probability from the start.

The mission had been lead by Shikamaru Nara, a recently promoted chunin, and he had only had a total of four genin ranked subordinates for the mission.

There were only three possible scenarios that Tsunade had foreseen for the nature of the mission.

The first was that Sasuke Uchiha had been kidnapped and the retrieval team would have had to fight those that kidnapped him. That was the most unlikely possibility though. Sakura Haruno had been knocked unconscious by the Uchiha on his way from the village, after all.

The second was that Sasuke Uchiha had left of his own free will and was headed to join Orochimaru alone. That was the second most unlikely possibility though. How would Sasuke even have known where to go to join Orochimaru? Not even Jiraiya knew where their former teammate was holed up at that moment.

The third was that Sasuke Uchiha had left of his free will and was headed to join Orochimaru with an escort of the Snake Sannin's subordinates. That was the most likely option. It had made perfect sense, after all. That was what had ended up happening too.

By the descriptions that Shikamaru had given her in his mission report, Tsunade had learned that the escorts that Orochimaru had sent to bring Sasuke back were the same shinobi that erected the barrier that prevented ANBU from aiding the Third Hokage in his fight with Orochimaru during the invasion.

The thought of genin and a single chunin fighting Orochimaru's body guards made her sigh again. That had not been expected at all.

The fact that all four of the escorts, along with the reinforcement that had ended up showing up, were dead was quite surprising. That was not nearly as surprising as the fact that the entire retrieval team had survived, along with the unofficial reinforcement that had come of his own free will.

Tsunade knew that the main reason that the entire team came back alive was actually a result of her own doing. She had asked the Hidden Sand Village to send reinforcements, which they had done without question. It was the least that they could do after Tsunade had let them off without major reparations for breaking the alliance between the two villages and invading the Hidden Leaf Village.

Still… she wished that she had been able to send a jonin with them at the very least.

Her thoughts went back to Naruto Uzumaki at that point.

He had been able to come face to face with his teammate, and they had been forced to fight at the Valley of the End. Naruto had fought to bring his friend back, and Sasuke had fought to get away so he could obtain power.

She shivered as she thought back to the report that Naruto had given her. Apparently, he had used enough of the fox's chakra for it to become visible, while Sasuke had used the second stage of the Curse Mark, just as his escorts had used in their fights against the other members of the retrieval team.

The thought of Naruto under the fox's influence fighting Sasuke under the Curse Mark's influence actually made Tsunade a bit nervous. She did not even want to imagine a fight between two shinobi using such foul chakra.

There were other details that worried her too. The main one was that his best friend had used the Chidori, a high level assassination jutsu, on him.

'And that ties into this, it seems.' Tsunade thought, looking down at the message once again. She mentally cursed at the fact that the advisors had access to the mission reports.

The message was quite simple. The advisors were _suggesting_ that the entire retrieval team be given mental evaluations to ensure that they were all stable and fit for the life and duty of a shinobi.

Tsunade knew the truth though. The advisors were not concerned about the mental stability of Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, Kiba Inuzuka, Neji Hyuga, or even Rock Lee. They wanted to see if the jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox was mentally stable.

'And with mental stability called into question, I'm going to have to order the evaluations to be done.'

She knew that they would be able to force the issue if she did not order the evaluations to be done. With the support of the clan heads and the Jonin Commander, the advisors would be able to overturn the Hokage's vote.

'Grandfather wanted to make sure that the Hokage could not actually become all powerful. Grandma said that he feared someone would one day become Hokage that did not believe in the Will of Fire, after all.' Tsunade thought with a heavy sigh.

She knew that the advisors would gain the support of all of the clan heads and the Jonin Commander if she refused to order the mental evaluations. It was a logical thing to do, after all.

Despite the fact that it was, indeed, a logical response to the mission, Tsunade had a feeling that it would go very badly for Naruto.

'I guess the only thing I can do is hope.' Tsunade thought sadly as she removed six pieces of paper from her desk drawer and began to write notes to each member of the retrieval team. She included one to Lee due to the fact that he had ended up aiding in the mission, despite the fact that he had not even been cleared for duty.

Once she wrote all six of those notes, she withdrew two more pieces of paper from the desk drawer. She proceeded to write one note to Inoichi Yamanaka and one to the advisors.

Upon finishing those final two notes, she put each of the combined eight notes in envelopes and addressed them. She then made a hand gesture, which caused two members of the ANBU Black Ops to appear before her.

"Neko, I need you to take these six messages to their intended recipients." Tsunade said, handing the notes that were addressed to the retrieval team to the purple haired kunoichi. Once they were taken by the aforementioned ANBU, Tsunade handed the final two to the brown haired male. "Take the one addressed to the Yamanaka clan head straight to him. I want the note to the advisors left in their joint office downstairs."

With that, Neko and Tenzo disappeared, leaving Tsunade alone in her office again.

"And now, we wait." Tsunade said with one final sigh of the night. In twelve hours, the mental evaluations would begin.

A thought crossed her mind at that point, causing her to smile briefly in amusement.

Naruto would be very annoyed as soon as Neko gave him the note. He had just gotten out of the hospital, and it seemed that he would have to return the next day to have a session with Inoichi.

Oh yes, he would be incredibly annoyed as a result of that.

* * *

><p>"Do you have a message for me?" Inoichi Yamanaka asked, glancing at the doorway of his study the instant a new chakra signature appeared. He was one of the best sensors in the village, so it was incredibly unlikely that anyone would be able to sneak up on him. Unless he was distracted, of course.<p>

"Lady Hokage asked me to present this to you." Tenzo said as he approached the Yamanaka clan head with the note.

Inoichi's study was exactly as one would imagine a study to look. The walls were lined with bookshelves, and the only actual furniture in the room consisted of a comfortable chair and a desk. It was brightly lit too, which one would expect from the owner of the most successful flower shop in the village.

While Tenzo took note of his surroundings, Inoichi seemed to have something on his mind.

'That's strange. Why would Lady Hokage send me a message so late at night? I never leave the village to go on missions, and if I was needed for an important interrogation, then the note would be from Ibiki.' Inoichi thought.

Breaking away from his thoughts, Inoichi took the note and began to remove it from the envelope.

By the time the note was out of the envelope and unfolded, Tenzo had already left the estate. Inoichi did not notice though. He had already begun to read the note.

_Inoichi Yamanaka,_

_I am in need of assistance from the Yamanaka clan. As the head of your clan, I trust that you can provide the assistance that I need._

_In short, I am ordering mental evaluations to be done on the team that went to retrieve Sasuke Uchiha. The evaluations will be to determine if the members of the team are mentally stable and fit for the duties and responsibilities of a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village. I'm sure you can guess why I need these evaluations done, seeing as your best friends' sons took part in the mission._

_The shinobi that I need evaluated are Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, Kiba Inuzuka, Neji Hyuga, Rock Lee, and Naruto Uzumaki. You may use any means necessary to evaluate them. I understand that it is much quicker to use your mind jutsu to evaluate one of your patients_

_If at all possible, I would like you to be the one that evaluates Naruto Uzumaki's mental stability. I have two reasons for this request. The first is because I trust you more than any other Yamanaka. The second is because Naruto needs to be handled very carefully. I'm sure that you can imagine why._

_For the others, you are free to delegate the tasks of the evaluations as you see fit. Keep in mind that Choji Akimichi and Neji Hyuga have yet to be released from the hospital. They are close enough to being released that the evaluations may be done without worry though._

_Now, I leave the rest up to you. If you have any questions, contact me tomorrow morning._

_Oh, and I already sent messages to them to tell them about the evaluations. They will be at the hospital at eight in the morning._

_Thank you for your time,_

_Tsunade Senju_

_Fifth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village_

Inoichi took a deep breath as he finished reading the note. It was not exactly what he was expecting, but it was perfectly doable. He immediately went to the task of finding the shinobi to perform the evaluations.

He had already decided that he would only have two helpers in the task. He was certain that Shikamaru and Choji were mentally stable, so he would have one of his subordinates do a standard mental evaluation on them. He would have the same person evaluate Neji due to the fact that the young Hyuga prodigy had recently undergone thorough mental evaluations from his cousin, Santa Yamanaka.

'Speaking of Santa… I'll have him evaluate Kiba Inuzuka and Rock Lee. I don't even want to see what's inside the mind of Might Guy's favorite student. That would give me nightmares for a few months at the very least.' Inoichi thought.

He was exaggerating in his thoughts about the nightmares, in all actuality. He was perfectly capable of sealing away any of his memories that were too frightening. He actually forgot who Guy was as a result of that, but that had been back when he had first met the green spandex wearing shinobi.

Inoichi rose from his chair at that point and headed to the basement of his home. It seemed prudent that he look over the files of each of the young shinobi. Well, he thought it was prudent that he looked over the files of the ones that had actually undergone mental evaluations before.

* * *

><p>It would not be learned until much, much later that on that fateful night, Tsunade and Inoichi had not been anywhere nearly as alone or unwatched as they had believed.<p>

It was actually relatively amazing what an elder shinobi could do with a crystal ball, after all.

A ghost of a smile appeared on the face of a man that had not truly smiled since his youth as he deactivated the crystal ball.

'It looks like they are playing right into my hands. Princess Tsunade should really learn to keep an eye on all of the players, not just the ones that are being obvious. She was never much of a politician, or she would have known that.' Danzo Shimura thought from his base underneath the Hidden Leaf Village.

Oh yes, he was indeed a player on the board. Being the true shinobi that he was, few people would ever know that he even struck.

The Darkness of Shinobi indeed...

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><p><strong><span>2. The Betrayal<span>**

"You may enter." Tsunade said as she heard knocking at the door of her office.

Inoichi Yamanaka entered immediately, and the look on his face did not promise good news in the slightest. The six files that he held in his hands hinted at the subject that brought him there.

"I take it that you have completed the evaluations?" Tsunade asked, glancing at the clock. It was almost one in the afternoon. She saw him nod. "Shut the door and take a seat. Then, you can tell me about it."

Following her orders, Inoichi soon found himself sitting across the desk from Tsunade. Clearing his throat, he said, "First, we have Shikamaru Nara. Upon reaching chunin, he was required to undergo a mental evaluation, so we have something recent to compare his most recent one."

As he said that, Inoichi placed a file on Tsunade's desk.

Opening the file and studying it over carefully, the Hokage's eyes widened. "He's _more_ stable now than he was a month ago?"

Inoichi nodded. "It seems that the failed mission provided him with an increase in maturity _and_ stability. He is perfectly stable, and sane. He's even lazier than I expected though. His evaluator made specific notes about that."

Tsunade nodded before she shut the file. The laziness was hardly unexpected. He was a member of the Nara clan after all.

The moment that it was shut, a new file was placed on her desk. Opening it, she saw that it was Choji's evaluation.

"As expected from an Akimichi, Choji is as stable as they come. The only hint of instability is a berserk button that my associate discovered. Apparently the word 'fat' is taboo around him. Like Shikamaru, he's perfectly stable and fit for the responsibilities of his position." Inoichi concluded as he picked the next file from the stack and gave it to Tsunade.

Shutting Choji's file and taking the new file that Inoichi offered, Tsunade realized that the third evaluation was over Neji. Similar to Shikamaru, his file contained multiple evaluations. It actually contained seventeen evaluations, which would have surprised her under normal circumstances. It did not at that moment though. She knew that Neji Hyuga had experienced great trauma due to his father's death, along with the usual trauma that a sealed Hyuga experienced growing up.

"The first time that Neji was evaluated, he was mentally unstable enough that he was unfit for the duties and responsibilities as a shinobi. Every evaluation after that was better than the one before it though. He is currently even more stable than Choji is. I suspect that learning the truth about his father had something to do with the increase in stability." Inoichi explained.

'That's good to know.' Tsunade thought. She shut the file at that point, readily accepting the fourth file. She was not surprised when she saw that it was not Naruto's file. It seemed that he was saving that one for last.

"Kiba Inuzuka was one of the two genin that my cousin Santa Yamanaka evaluated. The evaluation is not very detailed at all due to the difficulties in evaluating a member of the Inuzuka clan. The simple answer in regards to Kiba is that he is as mentally stable as a member of the Inuzuka clan can be." Inoichi said. He then handed Tsunade the second to last file.

Tsunade shuddered upon looking inside the new file. It was Rock Lee's file.

"As much as it worries me to say this, Lee is perfectly stable." Inoichi said, shocking Tsunade. "Though Lee is… eccentric… he is actually quite stable. He's as stable as Neji Hyuga at any rate."

"I don't want to ask any more about him." Tsunade said as she closed the file and stacked it with the other four files. "Now, I want to hear about Naruto's evaluation."

Inoichi hesitantly handed Tsunade Naruto's file and said, "Lady Hokage, I regret to inform you that Naruto Uzumaki is mentally unstable and unfit for the duties and responsibilities of a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village. It is my recommendation that Naruto be stripped of his rank and removed from the Ninja Corps for no less than two years, after which he could be required to be re-evaluated."

That had Tsunade's attention and anger. She could not believe that Inoichi had said that. It was even worse that the file matched his assessment perfectly.

"You've got to be kidding me. What do you mean by that?" Tsunade asked in anger.

"Naruto Uzumaki suffered a traumatic childhood of isolation. He never had a family of any kind, and he was never taught the things a parent would teach a child. The stunted development as a result of all that has caused him a certain degree of mental instability. The impact of learning what he carries inside him, using its chakra, and fighting his best friend in what was nearly a death match has worsened his mental instability to dangerous levels. As it is, I fear for our village if he remains a shinobi. As a jinchuriki, his instability is far more dangerous than that of a normal shinobi." Inoichi answered, not backing down in the slightest.

Tsunade closed her eyes as she thought about everything that Inoichi said. She barely held back the tears at the realization that Inoichi was correct. He would not have given that assessment to her if he had not believed that it was one hundred percent accurate.

'Forgive me, Naruto.' she thought.

"You may leave now, Inoichi." Tsunade said, surprising him. "I cannot refuse your recommendation, especially not when it was given as a result of my own orders. Following the laws that my grandfather set forth, I have no choice but to go through with the recommendation. I will inform Naruto myself." Tsunade said. She felt a small part of herself die on the inside just by speaking those words.

As soon as Inoichi was gone, Tsunade sent one of her ANBU body guards to escort Naruto there.

* * *

><p>"Hey Granny Tsunade, did you need something?" Naruto asked as he entered the Hokage's office about an hour later. By the look on his face, it was clear that he had no idea that nothing bad was about to happen.<p>

"Naruto, sit down." Tsunade said sadly.

That made Naruto noticeably nervous. No one ever asked him to sit down when they were delivering good news, after all. Nonetheless, he sat down in the chair across from Tsunade without question.

"Naruto, I need to talk to you about the mental evaluation that Inoichi Yamanaka performed on you earlier today." Tsunade said.

"Why do you want to talk about that? He said that he'd tell you all about it." Naruto asked. It was clear at that moment that he was not aware of the actual results of the evaluation. She was not surprised though. That was not the type of thing Inoichi would have felt comfortable telling Naruto about.

"Naruto, your evaluation showed that you are mentally unstable and unfit for the duties and responsibilities of a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village. It has been recommended that you be stripped of your status as a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village for a period of no less than two years. After those two years are up, you can undergo another mental evaluation. If, at that time, you are found to be stable and fit for the duty of a shinobi of this village, then you will be made a genin again. I am sorry, but I am going through with this recommendation."

That seemed to stop Naruto's thought process completely.

"I see…" Naruto said after a few moments. "You're sorry? You're telling me that you're kicking me out of the Ninja Corps on the grounds of mental instability, which means I will never be able to be Hokage, and you're telling me that you're sorry?"

As he said that last part, he rose to his feet so fast that his chair fell backwards.

"You've got to be kidding me! You're fucking sorry?" Naruto asked, anger clear in his voice and betrayal clear in his eyes. His next words left Tsunade stunned though. "No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for even trying to get you to be Hokage. I'm sorry for saving you from Kabuto. I'm sorry that I didn't leave you to mope about your dead lover and brother. I'm sorry that you're still alive."

As if those words had not shocked her or hurt her enough, Naruto finished the job by grabbing the necklace that he had one from her by learning the Rasengan. With a flick of his wrist and an extension of his arm, he threw the First Hokage's necklace at the wall to his right with enough force to completely embed the crystal into it.

"I hate you." Naruto said as he untied his forehead protector and her office without once looking back at her.

As he walked back towards his apartment, Naruto's mind was a maelstrom of emotions.

Many of what he had said had been said out of anger and hurt, but one important detail had been correct. Anyone that was removed from the Ninja Corps due to mental instability was ineligible for the position of Hokage at any point in their lifetime.

Naruto knew that for certain. He had been very interested in the position of Hokage, after all.

He had never considered the possibility that he would be considered mentally unstable though. It was not exactly common for a shinobi to be declared unstable enough to warrant removal from the Ninja Corps, after all.

Upon arriving at his apartment and shutting his door, Naruto collapsed against his front door with tear filled eyes. He had been unable to control himself any longer.

One thing was certain at that moment. He truly did hate Tsunade. That was the only way he could describe his feelings towards her at that moment. She had betrayed him in the most unimaginable way. Sure, he might not have been banished or anything, but he suspected that such an action would have been less cruel.

As it was, he would be reminded of his now impossible dream every time he went outside.

* * *

><p>As Naruto was in his apartment, venting as a result of the anguish and betrayal that he felt, Kakashi Hatake was standing in front of the Memorial Stone near the Third Training Ground.<p>

Kakashi did not seem to be paying attention to the stone at that moment though, which was actually quite understandable. He had been headed to talk to Tsunade a short while ago about the arrangements of Jiraiya taking Naruto away from the village on the training trip that had been planned.

Consequently, Kakashi had been right outside of the room when Naruto had learned that he was being removed from the Ninja Corps, so he had also heard the things that the blond had told the Fifth Hokage.

'If I had been in his position, I would have said worse, much worse.' Kakashi thought.

Kakashi did not agree with Tsunade's actions in the slightest. He believed that Inoichi Yamanaka's assessment was clearly wrong as well. He was Naruto's sensei and knew him better than anyone alive. There was no way that Naruto was mentally unstable. Well, there was no way that he was mentally unstable enough to warrant removal from the Ninja Corps, at least.

'There's something going on here that I can't see.' Kakashi thought. He did not like the prospect of anything going on that he was incapable of seeing, either. Having the Sharingan made him used to being able to see through anything, including ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu, and deception.

One thing seemed certain to Kakashi at that moment though.

'I need to get a message to Lord Jiraiya.' Kakashi thought as he looked towards the horizon. 'If my plan is to work, I'll need some help.'

His eyes went back to the Memorial Stone the second after those thoughts passed. His eyes immediately went to the name of his sensei with a practiced eye. Very few people could locate a name on the stone without a second thought, and Kakashi was one of them. No one spent more time at the stone than he, after all.

'Minato-sensei, what would you do if you were here to see this?' Kakashi pondered. That thought kept him occupied for a while.

* * *

><p><strong><span>3. The Great Cat Escape<span>**

At ten o'clock in the morning on the tenth of October, Naruto Uzumaki was sitting in his bedroom with the lights off.

Eight days had passed since Naruto had been removed from the Ninja Corps on the grounds of mental instability. In other words, it had been seven days since the entire village had heard that he was mentally unstable.

Oh, and it was his thirteenth birthday.

Naruto was not sure what hurt the most at that moment, in all reality.

The betrayal by Tsunade that destroyed his dream and turned him into a civilian in one fell swoop was still fresh in his mind. It had completely destroyed the positive emotions that he had felt towards her. He had lost all respect for her as a person and as a ninja.

As if that had not been enough, only three people had visited him in the past week. The first four days, he had stayed in his apartment the entire time, so he was not surprised that his only visitors had been Iruka Umino and Sakura Haruno.

He had allowed his chunin sensei in to see him, and they had visited for a while. Sakura, on the other hand, had actually been ignored.

Naruto still felt strong emotions for Sakura, but he felt that he had let her down completely at the same time. He could not face her after he realized that he would most likely never be able to bring Sasuke back.

After he had left his apartment for the first time since the incident, he had come across Konohamaru Sarutobi, who had been headed to see him. Apparently the young Sarutobi had not cared what anyone thought and had no problem going to see the "unstable demon."

After three visits from Iruka, two from Sakura, and two from Konohamaru, Naruto felt another great source of pain. Despite those visits, none of his other classmates were coming to see him. Kakashi had not visited him either, but he heard that Kakashi was busy with missions. His classmates were apparently only doing D-rank missions though.

Naruto had actually hoped that they would come to visit him on his birthday, but no one had come to visit him. He told himself that it was still quite early in the day, but he was beginning to lose hope in that.

Glancing back at the clock, Naruto saw that he had been lost in his thoughts for a little over twenty minutes.

'It's not like I have anything better to do.' Naruto thought bitterly. Since he was no longer a shinobi of the village, he was not allowed to go to the training grounds, so it was not as if he could vent through training. Well, he could still train, but he would have to go outside the village to do that in order to find a place to do so. The last time he had attempted to do that, the gate guards had stopped him though. It seemed that the Hokage had given orders to prevent him from leaving.

* * *

><p>At a little past noon, Naruto was surprised as the air before him shimmered and Kakashi Hatake appeared before him.<p>

"Hello Naruto" Kakashi said casually. Though he spoke casually, there was no doubt by the look in his visible eye that he was not his usual carefree self. The man standing before him was the Copy Ninja, not the carefree man that read erotica in public.

"Kakashi-sensei, what are you doing here?" Naruto asked in surprise. If he had not been caught off guard, then he would have stopped himself from using the suffix with Kakashi's name. He was not required to address Kakashi as his sensei, after all.

"I came to see my favorite student, of course. I'd have been here sooner, but I've been busy." Kakashi said as he flipped the light switch, momentarily blinding Naruto. "It also took a little bit to get all four of your ANBU watchers with my Sharingan. I'd hate for them to report that I dropped by."

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked. The prospect of ANBU watchers made him worried.

"The Hokage has assigned a team from the ANBU Black Ops to watch you. She wants to make sure that you don't commit harakiri or run off, I guess. That's just a guess though. We haven't talked about you in our occasionally conversations." Kakashi replied. "Anyways, I have incapacitated all of your watchers for the next twenty-four hours using my Sharingan. They won't remember a thing either, so we're both in the clear for today."

That last part truly got Naruto's interest. His words kept Naruto's curiosity active.

"Kakashi-sensei, what are we both in the clear for?" Naruto asked.

"Tsunade is out of line. I cannot stand by and let her treat you like this Naruto. I'm not the type of guy to ever abandon my students, after all." Kakashi said. He then let out an exasperated sigh. "At the same time, I know that it would be impossible to get her to revoke your removal from the Ninja Corps. If it was possible, Iruka would have already done so. I hear that's he tried."

Naruto felt a warm feeling inside at the thought of his chunin-sensei and jonin-sensei doing what they could to help him. It did not lessen the anguish at everything else that had happened, but it did make it easier to bear.

"Naruto, do you want to continue on the path you are currently on?" Kakashi asked in a voice that stressed the seriousness of the situation.

Thinking back to the even more numerous looks of hostility that he received in addition to the numerous people of the village that ignored and avoided him when they could, Naruto shook his head. He had no doubt that he would eventually pull a Gaara and kill everyone on sight if he continued to live such an existence.

"Naruto, I've been in contact with Jiraiya. We've come up with the only option that will get you away from all of this. You're going to have to do a lot of work if you agree with this plan, and you will have to completely start over if you agree to it." Kakashi said.

"What's the plan?" Naruto asked without hesitation.

"To put it simply, all you would have to do is leave the Land of Fire. Much like the retrieval team could not chase after Sasuke once he crossed the border." Kakashi said, making Naruto look even more confused. "What's wrong?"

"The gate guards stop me every time I try to go outside of the village to train." Naruto explained.

"There aren't gate guards at night. The only person in the village that they don't want to be able to leave is you, and there are two things that would normally prevent you from simply walking out at night. The first is the ANBU watchers that I've already incapacitated. The second is a special barrier ninjutsu that surrounds the village. I made a seal that will allow you to walk through the barrier without alerting anyone though. I know the codes to the barrier from my time in ANBU, so integrating them in a seal was easy enough." Kakashi countered. "And before you ask, the reason that the barrier would detect you when it did not detect Sasuke is because the barrier has recently been set to alert the Barrier Team if your chakra makes contact with it. This seal will override the alerts though, so no one will know that you left until your ANBU watchers wake up."

As he finished saying that, Kakashi handed him a highly detailed seal on a slip of paper. "As long as you have the seal in your possession, you will be able to pass through the barrier undetected. Please destroy the seal once you are out of the Land of Fire. That is the only illegal thing I'm doing to help you get out of here. If you destroy it, there will be no proof that I aided you."

"You seem sure that I'm going to leave." Naruto said as he looked at the seal.

"And you aren't?" Kakashi asked, thought it sounded more amused than curious.

"Of course I am, but that's not the point." Naruto said as he looked up from the seal at Kakashi. "So how am I actually going to get out of the village? I still have to make it to the gates without being seen, which is easier said than done."

"That's why I brought this." Kakashi said as he removed a scroll from his hip pouch and gave it to Naruto. "I acquired some new clothes for you. They're actually more to help you get out of the Land of Fire without attracting attention than anything, though. To actually get outside of the village, I recommend that you do something a bit more… ninja. I'm sure you know what I mean."

Surprisingly, Naruto caught the hint and managed a small smile at the idea. "Thank you Kakashi-sensei."

"I meant what I said earlier. I'd never abandon my students. Just promise me one thing." Kakashi said, glancing back at Naruto.

"What is it?" Naruto asked.

"Promise me that you'll try to be happy. A miserable life isn't much better than death, after all." Kakashi said.

"I promise." Naruto said. Kakashi was nowhere in sight when he spoke those words though. He had already left.

* * *

><p>Ten hours later, Naruto had not been visited by anyone else, but that he been a good thing, apparently. He had spent the entire time packing what he wanted to take care with them and had sealed his belongings in some of the scrolls he owned.<p>

By the time ten o'clock rolled around, Naruto's apartment was void of his belongings. As soon as someone entered, it would be clear to them that Naruto was no longer staying there.

The only actual personal effects that Naruto had left in the apartment were his clothes. He had decided not to bring them with him. At first, he had intended on taking with him in order to prevent them from tracking him by scent. He had decided against it as soon as he realized that Tsunade had his forehead protector, which would have enough of his scent on it to help them find him.

Shaking his head from all thoughts of being tracked, Naruto glanced down at his new attire. He had to admit that he liked it, and it was rather comfortable.

No longer wearing a trace of orange, Naruto looked as though he could blend in with the darkness of night perfectly. He wore black sandals, black pants, and a short sleeve black shirt. Normally, his hair would have made stealth a bit difficult since it was golden blond, but the black hooded cloak in his right hand would take care of that.

Putting the cloak on, Naruto approached the window of his apartment and opened it about a foot. He then formed the ram hand sign.

"Transformation Jutsu" he whispered. In an instant, Naruto was replaced by average sized black cat.

It was at that moment that Naruto was thankful that the Transformation Jutsu allowed its user to actually turn into something, or someone, else. He had used it in such a way to turn into a windmill shuriken in their initial fight with Zabuza, and it was coming in handy once again.

A black cat walking down the street would not attract attention in the Hidden Leaf Village. The only possible ways for the disguise to fail at his task were for a dog to chase him or for a sensor type shinobi to detect him.

Naruto had to admit that being a cat was a great bit different than being a human. Walking on four legs was not exactly easy to do. He had practiced it recently though. He had known that he would need to hurry if he was to not attract attention. The odds of a sensor type discovering him would grow by the minute.

Leaping into the window sill, Naruto looked down at the street. Seeing that there was no one in the street, the muscles of his legs tensed and he leapt down to the street.

Landing as only a cat or a ninja could land, Naruto made contact with the ground and continued to walk towards the village gates. Quickly realizing that he would appear suspicious if he walked down the middle of the street, Naruto moved to the left side of the street and began to move onward. He alternated his speed between a walk and a run, taking occasional detours around buildings.

No cat would walk straight up to the gates, after all.

Once Naruto reached the gates, he began to run as fast as his cat body could take him away. His speed actually increased once he was outside of the village as a result of his use of chakra in his movements. He had no intention of canceling his jutsu until he was several miles away.

From the top of a building near the gates, Kakashi smiled.

'I never thought I'd get to see a cat use a chakra enhanced jump. I must say that it's pretty impressive.' Kakashi thought with an inward laugh.

Naruto would not know until much later that Kakashi had actually ensured that he came in contact with no one. Relatively few people traveled about that late at night, and using normal genjutsu on the ones that did to keep them occupied had been relatively easy.

Most people thought of Kakashi as a master of ninjutsu, but he was also incredibly proficient at genjutsu, even without the aid of his Sharingan.

'I better send a message to Lord Jiraiya telling him that Naruto's already left. His spy network should locate Naruto immediately afterwards, no matter where he decided to go.' Kakashi thought.

That had been the reason he had not bothered to ask Naruto where he was going to go, among other things. There was also the fact that he did not want Naruto's destination to slip on accident. Though that rarely happened, there was a slim chance that it would.

'I'll do anything to protect my student, especially when he is the son of my sensei.' Kakashi mentally vowed.

* * *

><p><strong><span>4. Reactions<span>**

Tsunade was sitting in her office a little past one o'clock in the afternoon, nine days after Naruto Uzumaki was removed from the Ninja Corps of the Hidden Leaf Village.

She looked incredibly nervous and stressed out at that moment, which was actually the best way anyone could describe her mood at that moment.

It had been very hard on her when she had to remove Naruto from the Ninja Corps. She had only been following the recommendations and suggestions of someone who knew best about mental instability, but that did not make it any easier on her. Hearing Naruto insult her and tell her that he hated her had hurt her far more than anyone had managed to since her brother's death.

And then, she had learned some very troubling news a little over an hour ago. The squad of ANBU Black Ops that had been assigned to watch over Naruto had been incapacitated and could not remember anything that had happened since eleven o'clock the previous morning. Oh, and Naruto Uzumaki was no longer inside the village. The Yamanaka clan had verified that his chakra signature was no longer present in the village.

That entire squad had been dropped from ANBU Black Ops back into the regular Ninja Corps as a result of their failure.

'And now I get to tell the advisors and the clan heads that we are no longer in possession of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, despite the fact that we've had it in our possession ever since the Valley of the End was formed.' Tsunade thought bitterly. The bitter thoughts were actually a result of the fact that the advisors and clan heads would only care about the loss of the fox and not Naruto.

"Lady Tsunade, the Advisory Council and the Clan Heads have assembled in the conference room down stairs." Shizune said as she entered the office. Her voice sounded slightly more formal than normal.

'She's still angry at me for agreeing to dismiss Naruto from the Ninja Corps.' Tsunade thought sadly. Her apprentice had not taken her decision well. The only reason that she had not gone to visit Naruto was because that was not something the Hokage's assistant could do, and that was her job.

"Let's go and speak with them then." Tsunade said as she rose to her feet.

Without further words, the two kunoichi walked down the empty hallway, went downstairs, and then walked down that hallway until they reached the first set of doors on their right.

Entering the room, Tsunade and Shizune saw that there was a large table in the center of the room, though it lacked decoration of any kind outside of it.

Tsunade took her place at the table while Shizune stood behind. Directly across the table from Tsunade were the advisors. To the Hokage's right and the advisors' left, Hiashi Hyuga and Shibi Aburame were seated. To the Hokage's left and the advisors' right, Asuma Sarutobi and Tsume Inuzuka were seated.

"Let's begin this meeting now." Tsunade said as she cleared her throat.

"Should we not wait on the clan heads of Akimichi, Nara, and Yamanaka?" Hiashi asked politely.

"They are on a mission. I sent them right before I called this meeting." Tsunade said, surprising everyone there except for Shizune.

"Why would you send three clan heads away on a mission right before you call a meeting that requires them?" Koharu asked.

"This meeting has been called because you all deserve to know that Naruto Uzumaki has managed to escape the eyes of his ANBU watchers and somehow leave the village without the Barrier Team being alerted. In short, Naruto Uzumaki, the jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, is no longer inside the village, and no one knows where he is." Tsunade said. Before anyone present could say anything, she added, "As soon as this was discovered, I sent Inoichi Yamanaka, Shikaku Nara, Choza Akimichi, and Kakashi Hatake on a mission to retrieve him. It is highly unlikely that it will succeed though. He could have anywhere from a three hour lead on us to a twenty-four hour lead, though I suspect that it is actually closer to a twelve hour lead."

"Why did you send Kakashi Hatake on that mission?" Homura quickly asked.

"He is more skilled at tracking than many members of the Inuzuka clan. If I wanted to find someone better than him, I would have had to ask Tsume. Four clan heads on a mission seemed like overkill to me." Tsunade answered.

"Is this seriously why we have been called here?" Asuma asked. Everyone looked at him when he asked that question. "I mean… you did strip him of his rank and completely crush his dreams. Why shouldn't he be allowed to stay wherever he went?"

"Don't be a fool!" Koharu said. "He's a jinchuriki and an unstable one at that."

"Sure, he's a jinchuriki alright." Asuma said, distaste at the title obvious. "That doesn't change the fact that you're a moron. Perhaps you did not see the jinchuriki of the One-Tail or hear the kinds of shit that he did, but I heard it all. He is living proof of why you should have fucking treated Naruto as a human being. I hope the mission to retrieve him is a complete failure, because he's too good for this place."

Before anyone could respond to Asuma's words, a new voice rang out clearly.

"Well said Asuma. Sarutobi-sensei would be proud."

Everyone looked at the wall behind Asuma that point and they saw the one person that they had not been expecting, Jiraiya of the Sannin.

"This meeting does not concern you. You may leave." Tsunade said, looking to Jiraiya. He actually had no status that would enable him to be present at such a meeting.

"Your meeting is over. You and I have to talk, Tsunade." Jiraiya said. It was at that moment that everyone realized that Jiraiya was not acting as he normally did. He was absolutely serious at that moment.

"This meeting is not over." Koharu suddenly said. "Something must be done about the unstable jinchuriki's escape. Maybe you can have Jiraiya…."

She did not finish her sentence as Jiraiya slammed a hand down on it with a note underneath it.

"By order of the Feudal Lord of the Land of Fire, pursuit of Naruto Uzumaki is to be terminated. As he is not a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village, he is a citizen of the Land of Fire. Thus, he is under the Feudal Lord's authority, not that of the Hokage." Jiraiya said, giving Koharu and Tsunade alternating cold looks. "I would have been here sooner, but it took me a bit to get the Feudal Lord to write this up."

Tsunade dropped the letter to the table as she finished reading it.

The Feudal Lord had threatened to cease using the Hidden Leaf Village for missions if they continued pursuit of Naruto Uzumaki. It had also made it quite clear that, jinchuriki or not, Naruto was purely a civilian of the Land of Fire.

"You can't be serious!" Tsunade said as she looked at Jiraiya. "This can't be right! Even if Naruto was considered a civilian, he would still be a minor since he's not a ninja anymore."

"Read up on the laws next time you remove someone from the Ninja Corps. You can't go from being a legal adult back to being a child. It just doesn't work that way." Jiraiya said as he leveled a glare at his kunoichi teammate. There was no doubt that he was furious at her.

"You're the one that helped him get out of the village, aren't you?" Koharu accused.

"If I did, then I would have simply had the toads reverse summon him to Mount Myoboku. In that case, you would be unable to track him at all." Jiraiya replied, not even glancing at the advisor as he spoke. His eyes were focused on Tsunade still. "Well, I guess you didn't want to hear what I had to talk to you about. I was just going to inform you that information on Akatsuki is no longer the business of this village due to the fact that you don't even have a jinchuriki. Good-bye."

And with that, Jiraiya disappeared in a cloud of smoke. It was almost as if….

'He sent a shadow clone!' Tsunade thought in shock. She was still trying to process everything when Asuma busted up laughing.

"What's so funny?" Tsume asked. She would have enjoyed a good laugh. As it was, she was still feeling indifferent to the situation. She did not really know Naruto Uzumaki at all, after all.

"You'll figure it out soon enough." Asuma said between fits of laughter.

Tsunade understood why he was laughing immediately. The Feudal Lord had outplayed her and her advisors. In addition to that, she had likely just lost Jiraiya and his spy network. It was not as if he was an active ninja, after all.

* * *

><p>Tsunade was not the only one having a meeting about Naruto's disappearance at that moment.<p>

"Dajimu, Tera, Terai, you three are to begin tracking down Naruto Uzumaki. I want him captured so that the Nine-Tails may be extracted and placed in one of our own." Danzo Shimura said as he looked at three of the members of his Root organization that specialized in tracking. "You may take seven subordinates with you to ensure the success of the capture, should you find him."

"Yes Lord Danzo" the three members of Root said in sync. They would serve him with their last dying breaths if need be, and they would not show an ounce of emotion the entire time. That was just how Root was though.

'I certainly did not expect the Nine-Tails to run from the village, but it actually may make it easier this way.' Danzo thought.

Everything was going according to plan at that moment. Of course, he had plans for everything, so things rarely failed to go according to plan.

'Who would have thought that using my Sharingan on Inoichi would give me a chance to gain the Nine-Tails?' Danzo mused. A simple application of his unique dojutsu before Naruto's evaluation had enabled him to make things seem a little worse than they were, as well as ensuring that Naruto's removal from the Ninja Corps be recommended.

'I should really thank Itachi for killing Shisui one of these days.' Danzo thought. He wondered how furious Itachi would be at the thought of his best friend's eye being in Danzo's possession. The thought of Itachi furious was actually quite humorous to the old war hawk.

* * *

><p>One final, third meeting was going on at that moment as well. It was not a physical meeting though. It was more of an astral projection meeting than anything.<p>

"We're meeting again? Wow, I thought this never happened." Deidara asked sarcastically. The last time Akatsuki had held a meeting had been a few weeks ago, and they had claimed that they had not all met since the time seven years before when Orochimaru turned on them.

"Shut it." Sasori said in annoyance. "If we're having a meeting, then it is because it is very important."

Kakuzu, Itachi, Kisame, and Konan all stayed quite at that.

"Zetsu, what news do you have to report?" Pain asked, looking at the plant like man.

"Naruto Uzumaki, the jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, has been removed from the Ninja Corps as a result of mental instability. He actually left the village sometime last night. It appears that he is headed to the Land of Waves." Zetsu's black half answered. His white half was being quiet at that moment.

"We can capture him real easy then." Kisame said as he looked at Itachi.

"No, we cannot." Pain said, surprising everyone except Zetsu and Konan. "He must be sealed last. Capturing him now, as appealing as it is, would be pointless. We would have to watch over him closely to make sure he did not die before we were ready for him. Preventing that and suppressing the fox's chakra every time he tried to escape our grasp would only serve to hinder us. Instead, we will wait and capture him after we have at least six of the others sealed. Restraining him while we seal the last few would not be as difficult."

"I see." Itachi said with a nod.

"We will keep to our schedule then. We will not begin a full mobilization for another two and a half years. In the meantime, we will work on collecting the funds for our plans." Pain said, looking at Kakuzu at that point. "We will also need to locate a new partner for Kakuzu. Perhaps we will finally find someone who is nearly as difficult to kill as you."

The team of Inoichi, Shikaku, Choza, and Kakashi remained unaware that their mission was already a failure as Naruto stood at the graves of Zabuza Momochi and Haku of the Yuki clan in the Land of Waves.

Letting out a yawn, Naruto removed the only blank scroll in his possession from his hip pouch. Once he was done there, he had every intention of going back to Tazuna and Tsunami's house to get some rest before he left the Land of Waves.

It was nice being treated as a hero, but Naruto did not want to stay in any one place for too long without good reason.

Once he finished drawing a basic storage seal on the scroll, he walked over to the two graves and placed his hands around the hilt of the sword behind the one to the right. Using all of his strength, he pulled Zabuza's sword from the ground and carried it to his prepared scroll.

After the mission to the Land of Waves several months back, Naruto had read up on the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Hidden Mist, and he had learned that all of the swords were incredibly valuable to the Hidden Mist Village. From what Naruto had heard, the village had actually lost all of the swords at one point. He was unsure if they had recovered any of them since that particular book had been published, but he was sure that they would pay a large amount for Zabuza's sword. With that money, Naruto would be able to cover his life expenses for a while. It was not as if he was just trying to get rich quickly.

'He'd probably be furious if we had told him we were going to use his sword as a grave marker too.' Naruto thought as he glanced at the grave one last time before sealing the sword away.

'I'll be glad to get out of here.' Naruto thought sadly as memories of the mission to the Land of Waves came back to him. The thoughts of him being a Leaf ninja with Sasuke still around were hard to bear.

With his task done, Naruto rolled up the scroll and put it back in his pouch before heading back to Tazuna's home.

He had to admit that he was thankful that the old bridge builder had offered to let him stay with his family for a little while.

* * *

><p><strong><span>5. The Great Detour<span>**

Naruto had never been considered bright in the least, but his intelligence was mostly downplayed by the people around him. So while he was not a genius in the least, he was fairly intelligent. To pull off the pranks that he had in the past, he had needed to be.

That intelligence was the only thing that prevented him from heading straight to the Land of Water from the Land of Waves by boat. Anyone who learned of his destination would be able to beat him there.

To get from the Land of Water from the Land of Waves by boat, one would have to take a boat all the way around the Land of Tea just to get to the other side of the Land of Fire. It would cut at least a day off of the travel time if someone were to cut straight through the Land of Fire and take a boat from the eastern coast to the Land of Water.

Naruto did not want to enter the Land of Fire again though.

So, Naruto made a decision that was either incredibly intelligent or incredibly stupid. He decided to take a detour around the Land of Fire and take a boat from the Land of Hot Water to the Land of Water.

Naruto had actually calculated the distance that he would have to travel in his little detour, and he had found that it was about the same distance as a round trip between the Hidden Sand Village and the Hidden Leaf Village.

At the present, Naruto was three days into the trip, and he had just crossed the border into the Land of the Waterfall about an hour earlier.

As fate would have it, Naruto was in the right place at the right time when he heard a sudden noise in the woods to the left of the empty road that he had been traveling along. He turned just in time to see someone fly through the woods and hit the ground, rolling several times before coming to a stop.

Naruto barely had time to take note that the person before him was a girl. Actually, she was a kunoichi, if the headband tied around her right arm was any indication.

He took note of the symbol of the Hidden Waterfall Village moments before rustling from the woods to his left caught his attention again. Looking away from the white-clad kunoichi, Naruto saw that there were four Waterfall ninja standing across from her. They were wearing flak jackets.

"Fu, you should know that we aren't going to allow you to just leave. We've been over this more than once. You belong to the village." the Waterfall ninja that was standing slightly closer to the kunoichi than his comrades said.

"Fuck you." the kunoichi said as she rose to a kneeling position. Naruto caught a glimpse of orange eyes as she looked at the Waterfall ninja that had spoken.

"Fine; be difficult." the Waterfall ninja said. He then formed hand signs and said, "Water Style: Water Whip Jutsu" In an instant, a whip made of water appeared from his right hand, and he snapped it towards the kunoichi with a flick of his wrist. It wrapped around her before she could react.

By the look on her face, it was tight enough to make it difficult to breathe easily.

At this point, Naruto was through with sitting back and watching.

"Leave her alone." Naruto said as he made his presence known to them.

"This is none of your concern. Move along, and we will forget that you tried to interfere with the business of our village." the Waterfall ninja said as he glanced at Naruto. His eyes narrowed further upon seeing the shuriken holster at his right leg.

"What are you going to do? Find a corner and cry like the piss poor excuse for a shinobi from a second rate village that you are?" Naruto asked. He grinned when he saw the fury on the Waterfall ninja's face. It was easier to fight someone when they were furious, after all.

"Are you okay?" Naruto asked as he reached into his hip pouch.

"I'll be fine, but this is too tight. Can you help me?" the girl, apparently named Fu, asked in a low voice. It was easy to see that she was having trouble speaking. Naruto also detected a trace of resentment in her voice. It was not directed towards him though, oddly enough.

'She must hate asking for help.' Naruto though as he removed a kunai from his hip pouch and threw it towards the middle of the water whip. It took everyone a moment to see the paper bomb attached to the kunai. As it was, it detonated and severed the water whip before the Waterfall ninja.

Fu immediately fell to her hands and knees as she regained her breath. After a few deep breaths, she rose to her feet and stepped to Naruto's side.

"They're strong." Fu warned.

"So am I." Naruto said as he formed his signature hand sign. None of the Waterfall ninja recognized it. "Shadow Clone Jutsu"

In an instant, ten shadow clones came to life in front of Naruto. Each one pulled a kunai out and prepared to fight.

'Are those solid clones?' Fu thought curiously. The only solid clones that she was familiar with were water clones and mud clones.

"Clones won't help you against us." the leader of the Waterfall ninja said confidently.

"Attack" Naruto said softly.

In an instant, the ten clones attacked the four Waterfall ninja, and Naruto looked at Fu.

"Before I make any more decisions, I need to know why they are trying to capture you." Naruto said, immediately catching Fu's attention.

She seemed to freeze as she processed the question, but she managed to come up with an answer soon enough.

"I never wanted to be a ninja of the village. Why should I protect a place and serve a people when they have done nothing but despise me." Fu said. Her voice seemed to be as cold as ice as she spoke. "For the past six months, I've been attempting to escape. This is my tenth attempt. If I could have made it just a little further, I'd be free."

'It sounds like her life was like mine and Gaara's.' Naruto thought.

"Have you killed anyone from your village?" Naruto asked suddenly. He wanted to make sure that she was not like Gaara.

"No, I haven't. I'd love to kill those guys though." Fu replied as she sent a hate filled glare at the Waterfall ninja.

"Then what are you waiting for? The only way you can get away from them is by doing just that. My clones won't be able to hold them off long enough for you to run away from here." Naruto said as he formed his signature hand sign again.

Thankful for his help, Fu molded chakra and prepared one of the few ninjutsu techniques that she knew.

"Hidden Waterfall Style: Water Slicing Blade"

As those words were spoken, the moisture in the air around her gathered at her right hand. In an instant, she held a weapon made of water that resembled a sword.

With a chakra enhanced dash, Fu appeared behind one of Naruto's shadow clones and plunged her blade through its back.

Though Naruto was a bit thrown off by the maneuver, he was impressed to see what she had actually done.

Fu had acted with the knowledge that the shadow clone was merely a clone, so she had run her sword through it and through the Waterfall shinobi directly in front of the clone.

A quick glance at the Waterfall shinobi allowed Fu to see that she had pierced the leader through his heart.

Bringing the blade out of him, she spun in sweeping arc and decapitated one of the other Waterfall shinobi.

"Rasengan!" Naruto called out, catching Fu's attention.

She turned just in time to see him slam two spiraling blue orbs into the abdomens of the remaining Waterfall ninja. Shock hit her when they were sent flying backwards with incredible force.

'Those orbs… they're made of visible chakra!' Fu thought. She had never seen such a technique before.

The sickening crunch of the Waterfall shinobi slamming into two thick trees broke her from her thoughts.

Looking at the two dead shinobi before him, Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He had never taken a life before.

'I'm glad I didn't learn their names.' Naruto thought as his breathing steadied. He then turned and looked at Fu.

"We haven't been properly introduced. My name is Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto said as his eyes stayed on the green haired kunoichi.

"Thank you for your help, Naruto Uzumaki. My name is Fu." the green haired kunoichi replied. "I don't know what I would have done if you had not stepped in when you did."

It was at that moment that Naruto managed to get a good luck at Fu, taking her full appearance in.

Her skin was a little darker than his own, though he was unsure if it was just her natural skin color or as a result of being out in the sun on a regular basis.

She wore a sleeveless white shirt that ended right above her belly button would have been, but she wore bandages around everything below the hem of her shirt, so it was not as if he could see it. That was not the only thing about her attire that reminded Naruto of Ino's though. She wore white sleeves that covered her arms from wrist to a few inches past her elbows. In addition to that, she wore a white skirt with bandages covering her legs under them, just like Ino wore, though the Leaf kunoichi wore purple clothing.

To complete her attire, she had a black banded Waterfall headband tied around her right bicep and an orange hair clip in her hair at the right side of her forehead.

"It was my pleasure. I couldn't let them take you back to a place you obviously hate." Naruto said as if it was the simplest thing.

Fu pursed her lips in thought. After a few moments, she made a decision and said, "Would you be willing to help me once again?"

"Yes, I would." Naruto answered, not even asking what she needed help with. That little fact caught Fu by surprise.

"Those four were chunin of my old village, and they never only send chunin to recapture me. Waterfall might not have that many jonin, but they always send at least two. So…." Fu began.

"You think that there are a few jonin still after you?" Naruto asked.

Fu nodded with a sigh. "I've come this close to getting away, but I won't be able to make it to the border before the jonin find me."

'I'll lose a little time, but….' Naruto trailed off in his mind. He knew that he had to help her if he could.

Without saying a word, Naruto walked over to her and untied the forehead protector from her arm. He then pulled out a kunai and used it to undo the screws on the back of the plate, dropping the metal from the cloth.

Glancing back at his only remaining shadow clones, he said, "Start a fire and burn the bodies. Put the metal plate and the cloth in their too." He tossed the forehead protector that he had just taken apart to the clones as he said that.

"What's going on?" Fu asked, unsure of what he was doing.

"Burning human flesh is supposed to smell incredibly overpowering. If the Waterfall jonin are tracking you by scent, they will have a hard time once they get here. That's basically why they're going to burn your forehead protector too." Naruto said as he glanced at the clones that were already starting to get to work.

"Why did you take it apart, if they're just going to burn it?" Fu asked out of curiosity.

"The metal might have protected a bit of the cloth long enough for the jonin to get here." Naruto answered. "Now, we need to get moving. Stay alert. They may know where we are already."

"Right" Fu said as she followed after Naruto, who had just taken off down the road opposite of where they had been.

"Why are we going by the road?" Fu asked after a few minutes.

"Footprints on the road are expected." Naruto said simply. "Footprints in the forests around the road are a bit more alarming, especially to ninja that are after you."

"Oh." Fu said, thinking about the blond next to her. "You're a pretty good ninja, but I don't see a forehead protector on you."

Naruto seemed to grow a bit cold at the statement, but no anger was directed at Fu as a result of it. "I'm an okay ninja, I guess. I've had to think a lot about being tracked since I left my home village. I'm a former genin of the Hidden Leaf Village."

That truly did surprise Fu. From the sounds of it, he was a rogue ninja, but that was not what had actually surprised her. Hearing that he was from one of the five major villages, and was only a genin before he left, had amazed her.

"I was a genin from the Hidden Waterfall Village too. You're definitely stronger than I am, despite the fact that we were the same rank. I only know a few jutsu since my _sensei_ did not wish to teach me anything if he could help it." Fu said. Her voice stayed fairly quiet as she spoke. It was easy to see that she was trying to keep her mind occupied to deal with her nerves.

"I'm not all that strong either. I just know a few jutsu. I'd probably know more, but I was kicked out of the Ninja Corps after I failed a mission." Naruto said, glad to finally have someone to talk to. He did not trust her though, so he was being careful about what he said.

'Why would they be tracking him if he isn't a rogue ninja?' Fu wondered. She did not put words to that question though. Instead, she asked something a little different.

"What was that jutsu you used earlier, by the way? I think I heard you call it the Rasengan, or something like that." Fu asked.

"That's right. One of my sensei taught it to me a few months back. It's an A-rank jutsu created by the Fourth Hokage." Naruto answered. He did not even notice the shocked look on Fu's face at that point. "I was taught how to use it by this guy named Jiraiya. Apparently, he was the Fourth's teacher."

'Jiraiya… does he mean Jiraiya of the Sannin?' Fu thought. If she was shocked earlier, then she was flabbergasted at that moment. She had never met a student of one of the Hidden Leaf's Legendary Sannin.

Fu was not out of questions at that point, even flabbergasted as she was.

"What kind of clone jutsu did you use earlier?" Fu asked. "When I destroyed one of yours, I saw that it turned to smoke."

"That's the Shadow Clone Jutsu. It's a B-rank jutsu. It makes a perfect copy of the user and splits my chakra evenly into however many clones I create." Naruto said with a smile. He could not remember anyone ever showing interest in his jutsu before. "I can also use the A-rank kinjutsu variant, the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu."

One thought occupied Fu's mind at that moment.

'Who in the hell is this guy? He can't be any older than I am, but he knows two A-rank jutsu and a B-rank jutsu, at the very least.'

* * *

><p><strong><span>6. A Shocking Discovery<span>**

Naruto's breath caught when they were a little over a mile from the border between the Land of the Waterfall and the Land of Grass.

Though forest had surrounded the road on both sides for as long as they had been traveling, they were now arriving at a spot where the road had been built through a clearing.

Stopping at the very edge of the clearing, Naruto caught Fu by her shoulder, bringing her to an abrupt stop.

As soon as they stopped, a flicker of water appeared in the middle of the road, in the center of the clearing. Where the flicker of water had been, a man in his mid-twenties was standing. He had a Waterfall forehead protector and a flak jacket on, similar to the last group of shinobi that he and Fu had fought.

'He's a jonin.' Naruto thought immediately.

"Fu, stay back." Naruto said, speaking no louder than a whisper.

Though she did not like the fact that Naruto gave her an order like that, she nodded.

Taking a few steps towards the jonin, Naruto said, "You've been waiting for us, I take it?"

"No… we've been waiting for the girl. We don't care in the least about you." the jonin replied as he looked past Naruto at Fu. "She is the property of the Hidden Waterfall Village. She will be coming with us."

"She is a human. People are not property." Naruto said, his voice colder than ice.

"You would not be saying that if you knew what she was." the jonin said with a laugh.

Fu's heart skipped a beat at that statement. 'He wouldn't reveal that, would he?'

"She's a human being. That's all that matters." Naruto stated. He suppressed his curiosity as to what the jonin was speaking of. He would not give the man the satisfaction of that.

"She's no human. She's just a monster." the jonin said as he made a single motion with his hand. In an instant, four more jonin were standing behind him. "Now, turn around and leave, or we will kill you before we take the monster back to the village."

"Why would I let you take her back to a place that she obviously hates?" Naruto asked, undaunted by the presence of five enemy jonin. There was no doubt in his mind that they were his enemies at that moment.

"What the monster thinks is of no consequence. Once we bring her back to the village, the tailed beast within her will be sealed in another host. That is the orders of the Council." the jonin said.

'A tailed beast is sealed inside of her?' Naruto thought in surprise. 'She really is just like me and Gaara.'

"In that case, I'm afraid that you guys are going to have to die." Naruto said, his voice taking on an even colder edge.

Behind him, Fu was shocked. Whether the majority of the shock was a result of the jonin revealing her status as a jinchuriki or a result of Naruto not fleeing, Fu did not know. She did know that her respect for Naruto grew tenfold at that moment.

"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu" Naruto called out.

Everyone was shocked as the five jonin found that they were surrounded by no less than three hundred shadow clones. There were so many clones present that many of them had to stand on the branches of the trees surrounding the clearing in order to give them all room.

"He's bluffing. No one is capable of creating that many shadow clones. They're probably all regular clones." the first jonin said, hoping that he was correct.

"Let's test that theory. Shall we?" Naruto asked with a single hand motion.

In a matter of seconds, each shadow clone withdrew a kunai with a paper bomb attached to it. They proceeded to throw the large number of replicated kunai at the five jonin.

Rather than wait to see if they were real, the five jonin moved forward to attach Naruto so that they could get to Fu.

When the jonin were approximately twenty feet away from Naruto, all of the replicated paper bombs exploded, throwing off their balance momentarily.

That was all that was needed though.

"Duck" Fu suddenly said, her voice being heard only by Naruto due to the ringing in the ears of the five jonin.

Naruto quickly ducked down, allowing Fu's water sword to swing in an arc where his head had been.

As it so happened, a single one of the jonin had entered the range of the sword as it came swinging around.

The other four jonin were shocked when their leader was decapitated by the water sword of a genin.

Fear struck them a second later as they saw her eyes.

No longer did Fu have orange eyes. They were now crimson red.

Naruto managed to get a quick look at Fu's eyes as well, and he saw that they were different from his own when he was influenced by the fox's chakra. Her pupils and irises were still round, whereas his would have been slit like those of a cat or fox.

'I guess everyone's different.' Naruto thought.

Fu noticed that Naruto had seen her eyes immediately. What left her puzzled was the fact that he did not show a single ounce of fear on his face.

Breaking away from those thoughts, she sprung into actions, using her enhanced speed and strength to assault one of the jonin.

Though a normal jonin would not have had to work too hard to fight Fu in her initial jinchuriki state, the situation was not exactly normal.

While there were three jonin to fight her, they were partially occupied by kunai and shuriken that were being thrown at them from behind.

The eyes of one of the jonin suddenly widened as he saw that the original Naruto was no longer standing where he had been. In fact, he had no idea where Naruto was.

Well, he did not at that moment. He did a moment later though.

"Rasengan!" Naruto declared fiercely as he slammed a spiraling blue orb of chakra into the lower back of the jonin that had noticed that he had disappeared.

That jonin was dead before he ever hit the ground. The Rasengan had completely shattered the jonin's spinal cord and back bone, sending fragments of bone into his lungs and heart at a rather high speed.

As Naruto watched Fu decapitate another jonin that had turned to look at him, he thought, 'These guys don't know teamwork, do they?'

A second after that thought crossed his mind, he saw one of the last two jonin come at Fu from behind with a kunai. It was clear to him that she was unaware of his presence.

'Give me your chakra now!' Naruto mentally screamed at the Nine-Tailed Fox.

Much to Naruto's surprise, he felt the Nine-Tails' chakra fill him immediately. It was only enough to enter the initial jinchuriki state, but that was all that Naruto needed.

The jonin's wrist was caught by Naruto's left hand an inch before the kunai could reach Fu's back.

With a squeeze, Naruto crushed the jonin's wrist and snatched his falling kunai mid-air. He proceeded to slam the kunai into the bottom of the jonin's jaw, piercing through the roof of his mouth. Though the kunai did not go very far into the jonin's brain, it killed him within moments.

As he saw Fu begin to turn around, Naruto quickly tried to suppress the fox's chakra, and he was shocked when his initial jinchuriki state faded.

'I need to figure out how to do that at will.' Naruto thought.

"Wow, you saved my life there." Fu said as she looked away from Naruto.

A quick glance at his surroundings told Naruto that Fu had just killed the last jonin as he killed the one that had attempted to attack her from behind.

"Do you have a tailed beast sealed inside of you?" Naruto asked, ignoring her previous statement.

Fu looked at him with orange eyes once again. "Yes, I do."

Naruto saw that she looked nervous and fearful as she said that. It was as if she thought he would turn on her after everything that he had done to help her.

"Which one is it? The only other one that I've met held the One-Tail." Naruto asked. The way that he worded it made it difficult to tell that he was not referring to Fu when he said 'other.'

"The Seven-Tailed Horned Beetle was sealed within me nearly ten years ago. I was three." Fu said, looking away once again. She did not want to see the hatred or fear on his face.

An unexpected sound caused Fu to look at him though.

She was dumbfounded when she realized that he was laughing.

On Naruto's part, he just could not help himself. He had started laughing, and it was difficult to stop. He was unsure if he even wanted to stop laughing though. It had been far too long since he had last found it within his ability to truly laugh.

'Being around her seems to relax me though.' Naruto thought.

"Why are you laughing? Shouldn't you be calling me a monster or running away? That's what normal people do." Fu asked, confusion and anger mixed into her words.

Naruto stopped laughing immediately. And he slapped her.

"You are not a monster. Saying that normal people would fear you or call you one is complete bullshit. I don't want to ever hear you say that again. Do you understand me?" Naruto asked, complete seriousness in his voice.

'He slapped me because… I implied that I was a monster?' Fu thought in complete confusion.

"I can't even think that you are a monster. After all, you aren't the only host here." Naruto added.

Fu found herself spinning to look at him once again at that point. "What did you say?"

"I said that you aren't the only host here." Naruto said. There was no hint of hesitation or deception in his voice.

"You… have a tailed beast sealed inside of you?" Fu asked quietly. She was attempting to fathom such a possibility, but she could not.

"Yeah, I do." Naruto answered as he looked away. It was a sore subject for him, after all.

"Which one?" Fu asked, repeating his earlier question. She knew the names of each one, so any error in naming the one that he possessed would tip her off if he was lying.

"Thirteen years ago on the day that I was born, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox attacked the Hidden Leaf Village. The Fourth Hokage sealed it within me that same day at the cost of his life." Naruto said, watching as her eyes widened further in shock. "So see… I would have to be a monster if you were. Mine has more tails than yours, after all."

Fu, upon hearing Naruto's words, was shocked to such an extent that she had trouble believing anything. For some reason, she knew that his words rang true though.

'He has no reason to fear me. What he holds is two tails more powerful than what I hold….' Fu thought, trying to comprehend the situation.

Naruto's next words broke her out of her train of thoughts.

"What do you want to do?" Naruto asked. "You can continue onward and leave to wherever you were planning on going. Or…."

"Or?" Fu asked, sensing a little hesitation.

"Or you can come with me. It will mean having to go all the way through the Land of the Waterfall in order to circle around the Land of Fire though." Naruto said. He was glad to see that Fu was not so concentrated on what they held at that moment.

"That would be very dangerous for me." Fu replied. In all honesty, she wanted to agree to go with him. After all the years of dealing with hatred and loneliness, she finally had someone who could understand her and did not care what she held inside of her.

"I can help you get through the country without leaving your scent." Naruto said as he pulled out a small scroll. Unrolling it, he unsealed his hooded cloak from it. "If you put this on, my scent will mask yours. It'll take a few days before my scent disappears from it, and we could be out of the country within a day."

Fu liked the sound of that, and it made sense to her. She did have one question though. She needed it to be answered before she made a decision. "Why do you want me to come with you?"

"I actually have three reasons." Naruto said as he sighed. "The first is because I see myself in you. The second is because I'm going to need all the help I can get. And the third is because you and I are both in danger."

Fu understood the first reason, had guesses in regards to the second reason, and was completely confused by the third reason.

"There is an organization of S-ranked shinobi that are targeting hosts because of their tailed beasts. I don't know much more than that… but apparently Kisame Hoshigaki and Itachi Uchiha are members." Naruto explained.

Fu knew of both of those shinobi, and she did not like the prospect of shinobi of that strength hunting her down. She would be helpless.

'We need to stay together. We were obviously brought together for a reason.' Fu thought. How else would Naruto have shown up right as one of the Waterfall chunin hit her with a water jutsu that knocked her into the middle of the road?

Fu's answer to Naruto came in the form of putting the hooded cloak on and asking, "Where are we actually going?"

With a smile, Naruto replied, "I don't suppose you've heard the story of Zabuza Momochi's death, have you?"

Though Fu knew of the Demon of the Mist, she had never heard how he died. She could not help but wonder what that had to do with their destination though.

"I'll tell you the full story, but it's a long one, so let's get on the move. I'll explain while we travel." Naruto said. Seeing a nod from his companion, he began to tell the story of how he became 'The Hero of Wave.'

"A month after I became a genin, my team was assigned to escort a bridge builder to the Land of Waves…."

* * *

><p><strong><span>7. In for a Penny, In for a Dollar<span>**

Five days had passed since Naruto and Fu had agreed to travel with each other, and they had finally reached their destination, the Land of Water.

It had been a smoothf trip thus far. They had managed to get to the Land of Hot Water without incident, and there had only been a minor bit of trouble procuring a means of reaching the Land of Water. They fact that they had been stowaways did not really count as trouble to Naruto though.

Naruto had to admit that traveling with a companion was a great deal more comforting than traveling alone.

He was broken from his musings as an eerie feeling swept over him.

Examining his surroundings, Naruto saw that they were about to walk into an area where they could be ambushed easily.

The road that they were traveling on to head to the Hidden Mist Village had forest on both sides, with the occasional clearing as a result of a lake that had been there when the road was built.

Though this remained true of the area that they were approaching, Naruto had made an interesting observation. The road actually seemed to dip downward. In fact, it seemed that the road was a good ten feet below the forests that surrounded it. It was almost as if the road had been lowered with an earth style jutsu.

'With all the forest around here, the road is the only fast way to travel.' Naruto thought. 'If they could use the road to set up an ambush with the height advantage, then it would be hard for a large number of ninja to reach the village.'

"Prepare yourself." Naruto whispered to his companion, who did not show any signs that she had heard him.

With her hands in the hooded cloak that Naruto had given her, Fu had already prepared her water blade for the ambush that she was expecting. She was not entirely sure why they would be ambushed at all, though.

When they actually got to the lowest point of the road in the dip, shinobi appeared surrounding them from the edges of the forest and at the road behind and before them.

Standing before Naruto and Fu was a man with long black hair that wore all black underneath his flak jacket. His face was covered by a white and red striped mask with horizontal slit eye holes and the emblem of the Hidden Mist Village upon its forehead.

'He looks like Haku.' Naruto thought, remembering the first time that he had met the androgynous ice user. He still was not sure if Haku had been a boy or a girl, despite what he had been told.

"State your purpose for traveling down this road." the hunter-nin ordered. By his stance, Naruto could tell that the man was all business.

"I must go to the Hidden Mist Village and meet with the Mizukage." Naruto replied. He doubted that anyone else would pay full price for Zabuza's sword, after all.

"I see… that is unfortunate." the hunter-nin said. With a hand gesture, four shinobi clad in the attire of a Mist chunin or jonin- Naruto was unsure which they were- appeared in front of and behind him and Fu. The two in front of them were at each side of the hunter-nin.

"Is there a problem?" Naruto asked as he began to mold the chakra for a Shadow Clone Jutsu.

"If you surrender and remove all weapons from your body, then you will be taken for questioning without any harm." the hunter-nin said calmly.

In an instant, Fu cast the hooded cloak to the side and formed her Water Slicing Blade while Naruto created a shadow clone, which proceeded to help him form a Rasengan before it dispelled.

"That is foolish." the hunter-nin said as he quickly flashed through the hand signs. "Secret Jutsu: Kirisame"

In a matter of moments, it began to rain, but it was not like normal rain.

Naruto's eyes widened in shock as his Rasengan faded from existence. At the same time, Fu's water blade fell apart.

That was all Naruto and Fu remembered before they blacked out.

* * *

><p>Naruto and Fu woke up at roughly the same time close to four hours later. They were both sitting in chairs with their hands bound together by ninja wire.<p>

Glancing around, they quickly determined that they were in a relatively large canvas tent, though the chairs that they sat in were the only objects within the tent.

"Are you okay?" Naruto asked, glancing at his companion.

"I'll be fine. Just tell me that you have a plan." Fu said hopefully.

Naruto mentally cursed as he realized that his shuriken holster, kunai holster, and hip pouch had been taken away. It was not as if he could simply create a shadow clone to help him get free either. His hands were bound too tightly for that.

"There's no point in struggling. Your hands only remain bound until I am satisfied that you will not attack."

Naruto's eyes immediately went to the opening of the tent where a woman had just entered.

The woman was a slender woman that appeared to be in her late twenties. She had long auburn hair, styled into a herringbone pattern at the back, a top-knot tied with a dark blue band, and with four bangs at the front. Two of the bangs were short, with one covering her right eye, and two were long, crossing each other at her chest, just below her chin. Furthermore, her eyes were light green.

Naruto quickly noticed that she was clad in a dark blue set of clothing that was reminiscent of what most Leaf shinobi wore. It lacked spirals on the shoulders though, of course. In addition to that, she was wearing a flak jacket of the Hidden Mist Village.

"I apologize for the actions of my men earlier. One of my subordinates overreacted when he detected that two jinchuriki hosts were headed to see the Mizukage." the woman said. She noticed that they froze slightly at her words. "You do not need to be so worried. I could not care less that you two have tailed beasts sealed within you. It is not much different than having a kekkei genkai, after all. Ah, where are my manners? My name is Mei Terumi."

"How did you know that we were… jinchuriki hosts?" Naruto asked. He was not familiar with that term.

"My subordinate- the superior of the hunter-nin that confronted you on the road- is a sensor type shinobi. He was actually able to tell us which tailed beasts you both contained within moments." Mei replied with a smile. She seemed far too cheerful for Naruto's taste. "Now, I must confess that I was surprised to find that one of the jinchuriki that my subordinates captured was Naruto Uzumaki."

"You know who I am?" Naruto asked in shock. Fu was just as shocked to hear that.

"I've known your name ever since rumors of Zabuza Momochi's death spread. I didn't have a face to put to your name until the Hidden Leaf Village began to post missing posters of you. There's a reward for any information that can be found on you, actually." Mei said thoughtfully. She shook her head dismissively though. She had no need of such an action. "I think it's only fair to explain who I am, exactly. As I already told you, my name is Mei Terumi. I… am the leader of the rebellion that is trying to overthrow the Fourth Mizukage. You are in my main base right now."

"Come again?" Naruto asked, hoping that he had misheard.

"The Land of Water is currently in a civil war between the Fourth Mizukage's regime and my little rebellion. I wish to bring an end to the 'Blood Mist Village' before it is too late." Mei explained with a small smile. "The reason that you two are actually still here is because I would like your assistance."

The way that the woman before them spoke so casually made the two jinchuriki nervous. While it was nice not being feared for what they contained, it was unnerving to hear that their assistance was wanted by a rebel force.

"Are you trying to hire us?" Fu asked, catching on to the woman's meaning immediately.

"Two jinchuriki without ties to any village showed up on my doorstep. Of course I'm going to try to hire you." Mei retorted. "You see… the Fourth Mizukage is the jinchuriki host of the Three-Tails, and he has complete control over it."

That widened the eyes of Naruto and Fu considerably. They could not imagine being able to harness the full power of their tailed beasts _and_ control it.

"How do you expect us to defeat someone like that? We might have tailed beasts of our own, but we can't control them. Plus, I doubt that he became Mizukage just because of his control over the Three-Tails." Naruto said.

"I'm not asking you to kill the Mizukage." Mei stated. "I am the only one that can defeat him. After all, I'm the only other kage level shinobi in this country. But… I will need help when he uses the Three-Tails. If I have a couple jinchuriki to help me, I'm sure that he can be beaten."

"So let me get this straight…." Naruto began. "You want to hire us to help you kill the Fourth Mizukage so that you can take his place and end the reign of the Blood Mist Village?"

Mei nodded.

"Is that _all_ you need us to do?" Naruto asked.

"No, it isn't." Mei replied with a look of satisfaction on her face. "We are not prepared to launch an attack on the Mizukage yet. We are still obtaining the funds and forces to do so. There are also a few tasks that need to be done, and your help would be beneficial in them."

"Will you tell me what those tasks are?" Naruto asked.

"No, I won't." Mei replied immediately. "You don't need to know unless you agree to work for me until this rebellion is over. And even then, I will only release such information on a need to know basis. It would be bad if you were captured on your first mission and the enemy learned of all of our plans"

Naruto could not contest that point at all.

"Fu, what do you think?" Naruto asked, glancing at his companion again, who had been silent for the last few minutes.

"If the price is right, then I believe we should accept" Fu stated.

"As long as the price is right?" Mei asked, amused. "What price do you wish to receive in turn for your assistance?"

"We would obviously need shelter, food, and ninja tools for the duration of our employment." Fu said, earning a nod from Naruto.

"As long as the essentials are paid for, I'm not going to ask for money." Naruto said, surprising Mei tremendously. "There is something far more valuable to me than money at this point, though. Instead of ryo in exchange for our services, I want training. It would be beneficial to both, us and you, if we were to learn new jutsu when you do not have us working on a task."

Fu smiled at that thought. Training was something that she had always wanted, and she would be more than happy to sacrifice monetary gain for it

In an instant, the ninja wire that bound Naruto and Fu's hands snapped.

"I agree to your terms." Mei said cheerfully. She had every reason to be cheerful at that moment. Though she could tell that the former genin before them were not that powerful, Mei had every confidence that she could bring them to the level of chunin at the very least. Their tailed beasts would further serve to increase their power from chunin to jonin, from what she had learned.

'Things are starting to look up.' Mei thought.

"There is still some negotiating that needs to be done though." Naruto said, breaking Mei and Fu from their thoughts. "I came to sell something to the Mizukage, but I think it would be more fitting that I sell it to you."

"And why would I want to buy something from you?" Mei was genuinely curious at that point.

"I need my hip pouch. It's sealed in the scroll labeled with the kanji for blade." Naruto answered, sparking her interest even further.

"Did you hear that, Ao?" Mei asked, glancing over her shoulder.

In an instant, a middle-aged man entered the tent. He was wearing the same attire as Mei, but he had a blue banded forehead protector on. Furthermore, he had blue hair spiked upwards. His left eye appeared to be the same color as his hair, though his right eye was hidden beneath a black eye patch.

In the man's hands was the scroll that Naruto had mentioned.

"Yes I did, Lady Terumi." Ao said, tossing the scroll to Naruto. "Don't try anything funny. Lady Terumi could melt the flesh from the bones of everyone in this tent before you could even unroll that scroll."

"Now, now, don't scare them." Mei said playfully. There was no hint of doubt in the eyes of either Mist ninja that she could manage it though.

"Right… because I'm obviously stupid enough to fight a kage level ninja… again…." Naruto muttered as he unrolled the scroll.

"You've fought kage level shinobi before?" Mei asked, interested in the young blond once again.

"Eh… I suppose so. I don't think you can count my meeting with Kisame and Itachi as a fight, but I did fight Orochimaru before the invasion." Naruto answered.

"Are you referring to Kisame Hoshigaki?" Ao asked, his attention at full alert.

"I don't remember his last name. His sword ate my chakra up though." Naruto said, surprised that the man was more interested in Kisame than Orochimaru.

"If his sword actually ate your chakra, then it has to be Kisame Hoshigaki. Ao is one of the most skilled hunter-nin that I have ever met, so hearing about the strongest rogue ninja of our village is certainly going to interest him." Mei stated. "Do you know where he is?"

"He joined a group called Akatsuki. He's working with Itachi Uchiha, apparently." Naruto said, hoping that he would not have to explain Akatsuki.

He did not have to though.

"Things are worse than I feared." Mei said with a sigh. The thought of Kisame being a member of Akatsuki worried her. She was largely in the know, after all. "Enough of that though. Show me what you intend to try to sell me."

'A storage seal?' Ao thought when Naruto finished unrolling the scroll.

Touching the seal, Naruto released Zabuza's sword from it.

As the massive sword appeared in tent in front of Naruto, everyone's eyes went wide.

"That's the Seversword, the Executioner's Blade!" Ao exclaimed, shocked by the appearance of one of the swords of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Hidden Mist. He had never expected to see another one outside of Chojuro's Hiramekarei.

"I can see why you would think that you could sell it to the Mizukage, though he would have killed you and taken it instead." Mei said thoughtfully. "I will give you five million ryo for that sword."

Even Ao looked shocked by that offer.

"But Lady Terumi, we are trying to fund the rebellion. While buying that sfword is a good idea, we cannot afford to spend that much. Not yet, at least." Ao interjected.

"As long as we get the training during our stay here, we would be more than willing to wait until the rebellion is over before being paid for the sword." Fu quickly said, calming Ao down.

"That is what I had intended. I just wanted to get the negotiations for the sword out of the way." Mei said with a smile.

"I'm all for it." Naruto said with a grin. "That sword has been the second most expensive thing that I've ever owned, I guess."

"You've owned something worth more?" Fu asked.

Naruto's face darkened at that moment. "Yeah… the First Hokage's necklace…."

Seeing the negative emotions on his face, Mei decided to change the subject. Though she wanted to hear how Naruto came into possession of that necklace and what happened to it since he was not wearing it, Mei also knew that she did not want to upset Naruto any further.

"Tomorrow, I will give you a tour of our little camp. After that, I will show you to the training grounds that you will be using. You will also learn who will be training you." Mei said. She then glanced at her subordinate. "Ao, would you be so kind as to bring them to the tent that I had you arrange for them?"

Mei seemed to realize something, and she turned to face Naruto and Fu. "You two won't have a problem sharing a tent, will you? I understand some your age do not like sharing tents with those of the opposite sex."

"I'd prefer to share a tent." Fu said, looking at the blond next to her. "We are safer when we are together."

Naruto seemed to agree with her on that note.

"That's good then." Mei said. "You will be safe as long as you are under my employment, regardless though."

"By your leave, Lady Terumi." Ao said with a short bow before he took Naruto and Fu away from the tent.

Once the tent was vacant with the exception of her, Mei walked over to Zabuza's sword, which was still on the ground in front of Naruto's chair, and picked it up.

'I wonder who would be a suitable wielder. It would be nice if we could have two Swordsmen.'

* * *

><p><strong><span>8. Settling In<span>**

"So… what do you think about the deal we made?" Naruto asked as he sat on his bed, looking at Fu.

Fu, who was sitting on her bed across the tent from Naruto's looked up at the question. "I think that we made the best deal that we could have. I wish we did not have to get involved in this conflict though."

Naruto frowned at that. "Why didn't you say something?"

"We could not refuse." Fu said simply. "We had to be of some use to them if we wanted to keep our lives. When it is all said and done though, I think this will work out well for us, despite my hesitations to get into a civil war of a foreign land."

Naruto seemed to ponder that as his eyes flicked across the nearly empty tent that they were currently occupying. The only furniture in the tent consisted of two beds and two wooden chests. The beds were simply sturdy, and slightly more comfortable cots, while the wooden chests were simply made of six flat pieces of wood with the top pieces hinged to the back pieces.

"You two look all settled in." Mei Terumi said as she swept aside the canvas opening of the tent with her left hand. "Are you ready for your tour of the camp now?"

"Yeah, I'm ready." Naruto said as he slipped his sandals on and stood up.

"I am too." Fu replied as she put her sandals on as well.

With that, they followed Mei out of their tent.

* * *

><p>The tour had taken the better part of an hour, and it had been relatively boring for both participants, despite Mei's instance to speak cheerfully the entire time.<p>

The tour had actually been relatively plain, which was the primary reason that it had not inspired enthusiasm. It was exactly what one would expect of a military camp, after all. It mainly consisted of tents for the shinobi under Mei's command. The only area of the camp that was not covered by the tents of Mei's subordinates had been the very center of the camp. That was actually where Mei's tent, the infirmary tent, the armory, and the dining quarters were.

Naruto mentally snorted at the last one. Mei had called that particular area 'the dining quarters,' but it was really just a collection of cheap tables and chairs.

He was broken from his musings as Mei came to a stop a few miles away from the camp.

"This is where you two will be allowed to train." Mei said, gesturing to the entire area around them.

Looking around, Naruto quickly found that he had to agree with her in the fact that it was an area suited for training.

It was a large clearing surrounded in dense forest. The actual clearing was cut in half by a small river that flowed from the forest on one side of the clearing to the forest on the opposite side.

Naruto was unsure which cardinal directions the river flowed from and to, naturally.

"To begin with, I'd like to test your affinities." Mei said as she removed two small slips of paper from her hip pouch.

"What's an affinity?" Naruto asked.

Mei's face fell at that question. She had not expected one of the ones responsible for Zabuza's death to ask such a question.

"Don't they teach you youngsters anything, nowadays?" Ao asked with an annoyed sigh as he entered the clearing. "Why… back in my day that was one of the first lessons we learned."

"Was that before or after you killed your classmates?" Naruto retorted.

Mei and Ao were both shocked at the retort coming from the blond.

"Not many people are familiar with the Graduation Exercise of the Bloody Mist Village." Mei said, looking Naruto over carefully. "Where did you learn about it?"

"Kakashi-sensei told my team about it when we met Zabuza for the first time." Naruto answered.

"Why am I not surprised that the Copy Ninja knew that?" Ao asked with a sigh.

"That's irrelevant." Mei said as she too sighed. "Naruto, I'd ask you to refrain from bringing the Graduation Exercise up again. It's rude, and we have work to do right now. Ao, would you like to explain to him what an affinity is?"

Ao cleared his throat before he began.

"There are five basic types into which the nature of chakra can be transformed, called the five elemental nature transformations. These five types are also called elements and are not only the origin of the names of the Five Great Shinobi Countries, but also the foundation of all elemental ninjutsu. The five basic natures are all connected to each other in a circle, each being weaker than one and stronger than another.

"The first element is fire, which is strong against wind but weak against water. The second is wind, which is strong against lightning but weak against fire. The third is lightning, which is strong against earth but weak against wind. The fourth is earth, which is strong against water but weak against lightning. And the fifth is water, which is strong against fire but weak against earth.

"Basically, this means that if an elemental jutsu is put against an elemental jutsu of the same level, but of a stronger nature, then the jutsu with the superior nature will prevail. However, a jutsu with a weaker nature can overpower a jutsu with a stronger nature if the former is of a higher level.

"That is the explanation on the elements, at least. I'll move on to affinities now.

"In general, every person has chakra that has an affinity towards one of these types, a characteristic that seems to be genetic, since whole clans sometimes share the same affinity. Most members of the Uchiha clan, for example, had an affinity towards the fire nature.

"This affinity makes it easier to learn how to create and control the nature in question, although even with an affinity this process will usually take any number of years. Shinobi are not limited to the nature they have an affinity to, though. By the time they reach the rank of Jonin, most shinobi have mastered two natures. However, because of the difficulty of mastering a nature and the time required to learn it, it is almost impossible to master all five natures in a normal way.

"To find out what affinity someone has, pieces of paper made from a special type of tree are used that react to even the slightest hint of chakra in any of a number of ways, depending on the nature latent in the chakra.

"For those with a fire affinity, their paper will ignite and turn to ash. For those with a wind affinity, their paper will split in two. For those with a lightning affinity, their paper will wrinkle. For those with an earth affinity, their paper will turn to dirt and crumble away. And for those with a water affinity, their paper will become wet or damp.

"That is the long and the short of it." Ao said.

Naruto blinked a few times at that explanation. He had to admit that he had not understood all of it, but he had actually managed to understand a fair bit of what the hunter-nin had said.

"That made more sense than when I heard it the first time." Fu said, reminding everyone that she was there.

"You already know about affinities?" Mei asked curiously.

"It was one of the few things my sensei taught me." Fu said with a single nod. "I'm a water type, but I only have one water jutsu."

"Would that be the water sword that you were holding when my subordinate confronted you?" Ao asked, earning another nod from Fu.

"That makes things easy." Mei said. She then handed only one of the pieces of paper that she held to Naruto. "Channel your chakra into it."

A second later, the piece of paper in Naruto's hand was cut in half, earning a low curse from Mei.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked, immediately worried.

"You're a wind type. Wind is a relatively rare element in this country. I don't actually know anyone that knows wind jutsu, to be honest." Mei said. "That means that I won't be able to arrange someone to teach you to use jutsu of your affinity."

"I can learn another element though, right?" Naruto asked.

"Learning another element before you learn your affinity element… it's practically unheard of." Ao said.

"It is possible though." Mei said, earning a reluctant nod from Ao. "Is there any certain elements that you actually want to learn to use?"

Thinking back to his fight with Shukaku atop Gamabunta's head, Naruto nodded his head. "I'd like to learn some fire jutsu."

"Of course, you would have to pick that." Mei said, amused. "I'm the only fire user in the camp."

"Lady Terumi, is it a good idea to personally train him?" Ao asked. He knew that she had other responsibilities.

"I won't be training him right away." Mei reassured him. "It will take some time to gather all the information needed for the assignments that I will have you two do. Therefore, you will have a few months to train. And to start that training off, I'd like to introduce you to your trainer in the basic ninja arts, Chojuro."

As she said that, a young man appeared atop the river.

The young man, apparently named Chojuro, had short, tufty blue hair and dark eyes. He also had pointed, shark-like teeth; a trait that all known members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist seemed to share. He wore square, black-rimmed glasses, connected to what appeared to be headphones. In addition to that, he wore a blue pin-striped shirt and camouflage patterned pants.

His forehead protector was worn in an odd manner, which caught Naruto's attention immediately. It was on the front of a holster, which he used to carry the sword on his back, Hiramekarei. The sword itself was wrapped in bandages leaving only the double hilt visible. He also had shuriken holsters strapped onto each of his legs.

"Chojuro is the only remaining member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Though he is young, he is quite skilled in taijutsu and kenjutsu. He will make sure that you are in peak condition in taijutsu before your ninjutsu training begins." Mei said, pointing at the swordsmen. She then looked at Ao. "After you are done with Chojuro and before you begin your ninjutsu training, Ao will make sure that you two can detect and dispel genjutsu as well. After that, and only after that, you will begin to learn ninjutsu from me. Since I have three elements, I will teach you both."

'She seems to see something in those two.' Ao thought. 'I wonder what exactly it is.'

"Does this mean we're going to get to learn to use swords?" Naruto asked, looking at the swordsmen.

"You'll need to have basic skills in kenjutsu regardless of what you decide you want to learn." Mei said with a shrug. "It's easier to defend against a weapon that you know how to use, after all."

Naruto was unconcerned with Mei's words at that moment though. He had always wanted to learn to use a sword. It was not something that genin were typically taught, though.

"Now, go over to Chojuro and tell him that you are ready for your first lesson." Mei said.

With that, the two jinchuriki went to begin their training.


End file.
